Alley project to disrupt downtown for six weeks

The alley between Kemp and First Avenue South between South Maple and Second Street SE will be closed for about six weeks reconstruction.

The City of Watertown Engineering Department held a community meeting Thursday evening to answer concerns about a project on Kemp Avenue that is going to shut down an alley for about six weeks.

The Uptown Alley Reconstruction Project No. 1302 was approved by the Watertown City Council in March 2013 with Burchatz Construction getting the bid to complete the work at a cost of $49,857.34. The goal of the project is to reconstruct the alley containing the Goss Block and Plains Commerce Bank among other tenants.

The reconstruction will remove layer upon layer of asphalt and concrete from the alley while the Municipal Utility Department will remove the aging poles and equipment to upgrade the infrastructure in the area. A new layer of high quality concrete will then be laid to help with drainage in the area.

Representatives from almost every business in the affected area were present at the meeting as well as nearly every city official involved with the project and the construction company.

Assistant city engineer Sarah Caron hosted the meeting to inform them about the goals of the project and to answer other questions on how day-to-day activities may be affected.

According to Caron and other officials, the tenants could expect the project to start as soon as Monday, April 29, and last for about six weeks under good conditions. The project will close the alley to traffic, including deliveries and trash collection, which was the biggest worry for business owners.

Representatives from Diamond Vogel Paint, the Goss Opera House, Health Food Center and the Watertown Confectionary all normally receive deliveries through the alley. While some could make do through the front for a while, they said the delivery trucks are going to have to block traffic on Kemp, possibly during peak times of the day.

In a show of goodwill, Burchatz Construction offered to help owners move items that will not fit through the front door using his skid-steer, helping put a few of the owners at ease.

The Project:

The project will be completed in three phases according to Caron.

The first phase will remove the old asphalt and concrete, which should not take more than a few days.

Municipal Utilities will take over during the second phase. They will run new connections to all of the buildings and then remove all of the existing connections after switching to the new ones.

According to electrical Superintendent Doug Enstad, this part of the project will take a few weeks. He attributed the length to the amount of work that needs to be done as well as what is under the asphalt; they are not exactly sure what is under it due to the length of time the alley has been there. They will also install new lights in the back to replace the two 100 watt lamps that are currently there.

“We will attempt to do whatever is necessary to keep businesses open, even if it means we have to work late hours,” Enstad said. He also noted that he has 1,400 feet of new wire to run, with 10 linemen that do this type of work everyday.

The third phase of the project should take no more than two weeks. The contractor will finally lay a layer of cement on the alley, which will take about a week to cure. At that point the barricades will come down and business will go back to normal.

Caron told the owners that they will do as much as they can for the owners for the duration of the project, even if it means they have to overlook some city ordinances for a few weeks.

The trash receptacles that are currently in the alley will be moved to the street, normally a code violation, but with limited space, there are few other options.

While no other future meetings are scheduled, city engineer Tom Drake said one could be called in case of major project delays or developments. The project is 100 percent funded by city tax dollars. It is part of a larger plan to redo every alley in the Uptown area over the next several years.

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